aibioSensei Biotherapeutics, Inc. (now Faeth Therapeutics, Inc.) gets 180 more days to meet Nasdaq bid price rule
Tickers FTH
Sensei Biotherapeutics told investors on January 7, 2025 that Nasdaq had moved its stock to the Capital Market and given it until July 7, 2025 to lift its share price above $1.00. Its 2023 annual report showed a $34,101 thousand net loss and cash that fell to $13,011 thousand at year end.
Key facts
- Company
- Faeth Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTH)
- News type
- Listings
- Primary source
- Faeth Therapeutics, Inc. Form 8-K filed January 7, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
Sensei Biotherapeutics, Inc., a Delaware immuno-oncology company based in Rockville, Maryland, disclosed on January 7, 2025 that Nasdaq had granted it more time to fix a low share price. The company reported the notice in a Form 8-K dated and signed January 7, 2025 by General Counsel and Secretary Christopher W. Gerry. Its common stock trades under the symbol SNSE.
How the bid price problem started
Nasdaq's Listing Qualifications Staff told the company on July 10, 2024 that its bid price had closed below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days, the minimum required by Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1). The company reported that letter in a Form 8-K filed July 12, 2024. Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), it received an initial 180 calendar days, until January 6, 2025, to regain compliance.
The 8-K says the company had not regained compliance by that date.
The extra 180 days
A second Nasdaq letter dated January 7, 2025 approved the company's application to transfer to the Nasdaq Capital Market. It also gave the company an additional 180 calendar days, until July 7, 2025, which the filing calls the Second Compliance Date. The transfer took effect at the opening of business on January 8, 2025. The 8-K says the Capital Market operates in substantially the same manner as the Nasdaq Global Select Market, and that the stock keeps trading under SNSE.
The company says it will monitor its closing bid price and evaluate options to resolve the deficiency, including a reverse stock split if necessary. A reverse split reduces the number of shares outstanding to lift the price per share, without changing the underlying business.
If the company misses July 7
If Sensei does not regain compliance by the Second Compliance Date, Nasdaq staff will notify it that its common stock is subject to delisting. The company could then appeal that determination before the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel. The 8-K states that there can be "no assurance" such an appeal would succeed.
What the 2023 annual report shows
The annual report for fiscal 2023 reports a net loss of $34,101 thousand, down from $48,588 thousand in 2022. Research and development expense was $18,299 thousand and general and administrative expense was $18,765 thousand. Interest income of $3,624 thousand offset part of the operating loss.
Cash and cash equivalents fell to $13,011 thousand at December 31, 2023, from $17,795 thousand a year earlier. Over the same year the company spent $10,384 thousand repurchasing its own common stock, which accounts for most of the $11,173 thousand used in financing activities.
The report says the company paused IND-enabling studies for its next TMAb product candidate while it expands a clinical trial of SNS-101. It expects existing cash and cash equivalents to fund operating expenses and capital needs "at least into the fourth quarter of 2025." The report's runway estimate reaches into the fourth quarter of 2025, after the July 7, 2025 Second Compliance Date.
What the filing leaves out
The 8-K gives no closing bid prices after the notice, no current cash balance and no date for any stockholder vote on a reverse split. The annual report is a year-end 2023 snapshot, and the 8-K does not update its runway estimate.
Who signed
General Counsel and Secretary Christopher W. Gerry signed the 8-K on January 7, 2025.